# Why are they so few undead protagonists? Or inhuman protagonists in general? **URL:** \ **Category:** All Things Writing\ **Tags:** chat\ **Created:** [May 18, 2023, 11:09pm UTC](https://forum.wackywriters.com/t/why-are-they-so-few-undead-protagonists-or-inhuman-protagonists-in-general/14090 "2023-05-18T23:09:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![anon39043209](https://forum.wackywriters.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@anon39043209](https://forum.wackywriters.com/u/anon39043209)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2023, 10:14am UTC](https://forum.wackywriters.com/t/why-are-they-so-few-undead-protagonists-or-inhuman-protagonists-in-general/14090/41 "2023-05-19T10:14:55Z")
Honestly, I rather write about magical immortals than magical mortals or magicaless ones. Ordinary humans bore me or just humans in general. That’s just in fiction…MY FICTION!!! ---
**Author:** ![JellyGhost](https://forum.wackywriters.com/user_avatar/forum.wackywriters.com/jellyghost/32/60351_2.png) [@JellyGhost](https://forum.wackywriters.com/u/JellyGhost)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2023, 11:20am UTC](https://forum.wackywriters.com/t/why-are-they-so-few-undead-protagonists-or-inhuman-protagonists-in-general/14090/42 "2023-05-19T11:20:19Z")
Warm Bodies is the only book I’ve read with a zombie protagonist (and it was goooooood). I stay away from vampire fiction, because blech. I have a handful of books on my shelf with ghost protagonists, though none of them are popular or well-known (and some of them are just…meh). Though they’re all stand-alone stories and none of them are very long books with complex plots, which is what I _really_ want out of my ghost fiction (guess that’s why I do it myself lol). But yes. More undead protagonists please 👀 ---
**Author:** ![NotARussianBot](https://forum.wackywriters.com/user_avatar/forum.wackywriters.com/notarussianbot/32/63102_2.png) [@NotARussianBot](https://forum.wackywriters.com/u/NotARussianBot)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2023, 1:44pm UTC](https://forum.wackywriters.com/t/why-are-they-so-few-undead-protagonists-or-inhuman-protagonists-in-general/14090/43 "2023-05-19T13:44:30Z")
Phylactery. Look it up. ---
**Author:** ![TheTigerWriter](https://forum.wackywriters.com/user_avatar/forum.wackywriters.com/thetigerwriter/32/28691_2.png) [@TheTigerWriter](https://forum.wackywriters.com/u/TheTigerWriter)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2023, 1:46pm UTC](https://forum.wackywriters.com/t/why-are-they-so-few-undead-protagonists-or-inhuman-protagonists-in-general/14090/44 "2023-05-19T13:46:59Z")
Interesting. ---
**Author:** ![Churro](https://forum.wackywriters.com/user_avatar/forum.wackywriters.com/churro/32/48086_2.png) [@Churro](https://forum.wackywriters.com/u/Churro)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2023, 1:52pm UTC](https://forum.wackywriters.com/t/why-are-they-so-few-undead-protagonists-or-inhuman-protagonists-in-general/14090/45 "2023-05-19T13:52:14Z")
Imagine an overweight man becomes a ghost, and he gets really upset because he can’t eat food anymore because it slips right through him. ---
**Author:** ![J.L.O](https://forum.wackywriters.com/user_avatar/forum.wackywriters.com/j.l.o/32/36267_2.png) [@J.L.O](https://forum.wackywriters.com/u/J.L.O)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2023, 4:38pm UTC](https://forum.wackywriters.com/t/why-are-they-so-few-undead-protagonists-or-inhuman-protagonists-in-general/14090/46 "2023-05-19T16:38:57Z")
That’s often a Jewish Golem thing. Golems are wicked fun. My favorite is in the Doscworld series. ---
**Author:** ![lowarlo](https://forum.wackywriters.com/user_avatar/forum.wackywriters.com/lowarlo/32/62235_2.png) [@lowarlo](https://forum.wackywriters.com/u/lowarlo)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2023, 6:10pm UTC](https://forum.wackywriters.com/t/why-are-they-so-few-undead-protagonists-or-inhuman-protagonists-in-general/14090/47 "2023-05-19T18:10:31Z")
Mhm, perhaps the perspective of a real undead being (like a zombie of some kind) is too foreign a concept for many people to enjoy? Oftentimes protagonists are used as a guiding force for the reader. They, like the reader, are experiencing the world for the first time. Having something the reader can relate to is useful in being able to relay this information. With an undead being, you could imagine they would have different stakes, motivations, etc. and I feel like these stakes and motivations would be too far removed from the sympathetic goals more humanoid protagonists (I include vampires in this as they’re often written to be more human). If one were to do this, I feel like having a close secondary character who is human would be important, also probably a third-person limited perspective. The idea is intriguing enough to grasp people’s attention, the inclusion of a human within this narrative also presents a way for information to be relayed in an organic and relatable way, also it would show the differences between an undead person and a living being so it’s a good way to show more information about the undead being and his different ways of thinking without having to be inside his mind–a perhaps too unique concept for some people to get behind (imo), and with third person limited the characterization of the undead character would be more observational, which would help add to the mystery of the character. Overall, why a unique and interesting idea that I think could become very popular, it’s a very foreign concept and I think perhaps too unique for the more casual reader to get behind. Unless it’s a comedy. I could see a comedy successfully pulling something like this off. ---
**Author:** ![J.L.O](https://forum.wackywriters.com/user_avatar/forum.wackywriters.com/j.l.o/32/36267_2.png) [@J.L.O](https://forum.wackywriters.com/u/J.L.O)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2023, 6:27pm UTC](https://forum.wackywriters.com/t/why-are-they-so-few-undead-protagonists-or-inhuman-protagonists-in-general/14090/48 "2023-05-19T18:27:40Z")
Discworld series is political satire/comedy. So yeah, it works there, very well. ---
**Author:** ![lowarlo](https://forum.wackywriters.com/user_avatar/forum.wackywriters.com/lowarlo/32/62235_2.png) [@lowarlo](https://forum.wackywriters.com/u/lowarlo)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2023, 6:37pm UTC](https://forum.wackywriters.com/t/why-are-they-so-few-undead-protagonists-or-inhuman-protagonists-in-general/14090/49 "2023-05-19T18:37:40Z")
Makes sense, comedy has more room for the unique and absurd, though I do think it would be interesting to see a more seriously toned book featuring an undead protagonist. ---
**Author:** ![NotARussianBot](https://forum.wackywriters.com/user_avatar/forum.wackywriters.com/notarussianbot/32/63102_2.png) [@NotARussianBot](https://forum.wackywriters.com/u/NotARussianBot)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2023, 6:41pm UTC](https://forum.wackywriters.com/t/why-are-they-so-few-undead-protagonists-or-inhuman-protagonists-in-general/14090/50 "2023-05-19T18:41:12Z")
Ever heard of this one light novel series named Overlord? ---
**Author:** ![lowarlo](https://forum.wackywriters.com/user_avatar/forum.wackywriters.com/lowarlo/32/62235_2.png) [@lowarlo](https://forum.wackywriters.com/u/lowarlo)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2023, 6:43pm UTC](https://forum.wackywriters.com/t/why-are-they-so-few-undead-protagonists-or-inhuman-protagonists-in-general/14090/51 "2023-05-19T18:43:41Z")
Noo I just googled it and it looks sick! I’ve been looking for new reading material and stepping outside my genre comfort-zones and this looks like a great start to that. Looks fucking sick based on the cover art, some kind of Berserk/Attack on Titan morph. ---
**Author:** ![J.L.O](https://forum.wackywriters.com/user_avatar/forum.wackywriters.com/j.l.o/32/36267_2.png) [@J.L.O](https://forum.wackywriters.com/u/J.L.O)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2023, 6:44pm UTC](https://forum.wackywriters.com/t/why-are-they-so-few-undead-protagonists-or-inhuman-protagonists-in-general/14090/52 "2023-05-19T18:44:41Z")
I have at least part of the series in hardback. ---
**Author:** ![AMMeyers](https://forum.wackywriters.com/user_avatar/forum.wackywriters.com/ammeyers/32/52454_2.png) [@AMMeyers](https://forum.wackywriters.com/u/AMMeyers)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2023, 3:23pm UTC](https://forum.wackywriters.com/t/why-are-they-so-few-undead-protagonists-or-inhuman-protagonists-in-general/14090/53 "2023-05-20T15:23:35Z")
It’d be cool to see more non-human protagonists, and it’s actually why my series will feature non-human narratives. My character gets turned into a monster of sorts (my take on a vampire, but his body completely shifts and he doesn’t feel normal at all) in the sequel, and then half of the story will feature an alien species. So, it’s kind of cool and different. Though it’s not the first time. I have a short story called _Android_ on Wattpad where the protagonist is about an AI. 😉 The only thing, however, that I’ve never been a fan of is animal or animal-esque narratives. I just find them weird, so I don’t reach for them. I can only ever see it done in children fiction or animated movies. And animated movies is the farthest I’ll go in the film industry. Never really liked those live action movies with the animals talking, like in _Space Buddies_. It’s creepy. But I’m okay with something like _A Dog’s Purpose_ in live action or _Oliver and Company_ in animation. ---
**Author:** ![NotARussianBot](https://forum.wackywriters.com/user_avatar/forum.wackywriters.com/notarussianbot/32/63102_2.png) [@NotARussianBot](https://forum.wackywriters.com/u/NotARussianBot)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2023, 3:25pm UTC](https://forum.wackywriters.com/t/why-are-they-so-few-undead-protagonists-or-inhuman-protagonists-in-general/14090/54 "2023-05-20T15:25:21Z")
So you wouldn’t want to read a story of dolphins taking over the world with mechas? ---
**Author:** ![AMMeyers](https://forum.wackywriters.com/user_avatar/forum.wackywriters.com/ammeyers/32/52454_2.png) [@AMMeyers](https://forum.wackywriters.com/u/AMMeyers)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2023, 3:32pm UTC](https://forum.wackywriters.com/t/why-are-they-so-few-undead-protagonists-or-inhuman-protagonists-in-general/14090/55 "2023-05-20T15:32:49Z")
Pretty much. 😅 ---
**Author:** ![J.L.O](https://forum.wackywriters.com/user_avatar/forum.wackywriters.com/j.l.o/32/36267_2.png) [@J.L.O](https://forum.wackywriters.com/u/J.L.O)\ **Post date:** [May 20, 2023, 6:02pm UTC](https://forum.wackywriters.com/t/why-are-they-so-few-undead-protagonists-or-inhuman-protagonists-in-general/14090/56 "2023-05-20T18:02:49Z")
Hey we all have ihr hangups. ---
**Author:** ![system](https://wacky-storage.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com/original/3X/7/4/74e3567b0515d0f2c89ca58b2104b3a624ad29dd.png) [@system](https://forum.wackywriters.com/u/system)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2023, 6:03pm UTC](https://forum.wackywriters.com/t/why-are-they-so-few-undead-protagonists-or-inhuman-protagonists-in-general/14090/57 "2023-06-03T18:03:19Z")
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